Layne Redmond was an American drummer, frame drum expert, writer, teacher, historian, and mythologist. Drum maker Remo created a frame drum designed by Redmond as their first Signature Series product. The February 2000 issue of Drum! listed Redmond as one of the 53 Heavyweight Drummers Who Made A Difference in the 1990s, where she is ranked among such musicians as Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, Zakir Hussain, Elvin Jones and Mickey Hart. She is the only woman on this list, and she is the only drummer on the list whose work focuses on the spiritual and healing dimensions of drumming and rhythm. Redmond's path focuses on the hand-held frame drum, the world's oldest known drum. For fifteen years, she researched the history of this drum in religious and healing rites in the ancient Mediterranean world culminating in her 1997 book, When the Drummers Were Women. The book details a lost history of a time when women were the primary percussionists in the ancient world and also explains why they are not today. All Things Considered on National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Drum!, Modern Drummer, Percussive Notes, New Age Journal, Harper's Bazaar, New Age Voice and Shaman's Drum Journal are a few of the media that have featured articles and interviews with Redmond. In the summer of 2013, Redmond entered a Hospice.
Performances
Redmond has been featured in many music festivals including the Touch Festival in Berlin, Seattle Bumbershoot Festival, the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, Tambores do Mundo in Sao Luis, Brazil, as a soloist at the World Wide Percussion Festival in Salvador, Brazil. In Feb. 2002 Redmond's percussion duo performed at the Vienna International Percussion Festival and in 2006 her group, Sundarhalahari, performed at the UFBA Percussion Festival in Salvador, Brazil. In the spring of 2007 she presented and performed at the Univ. of Florida's Health and Spirituality Program and at Stanford University. In April she taught and performed at the Marranzano World Festival a traditional tambourine festival in Sicily.
Recordings
Redmond's recordings include The Wave of Bliss, Invoking the Muse, Trance Union, Since the Beginning and she has two instructional videos: Rhythmic Wisdom and A Sense of Time. Her meditation albums include: Chakra Breathing Meditation, Chanting the Chakras, Heart Chakra Meditations. She also authored a chakra meditation guide titled Chakra Meditation. She was the first woman to have a Signature Series of world percussion instruments with Remo, Inc. She recorded under the Sounds True label.
